Pizza Sauce vs. Marinara Sauce: Ingredients, Nutrition, Diets, & More

Ingredients

Pizza sauce is usually well-seasoned to provide a strong flavor and taste. It mainly contains chopped tomatoes, garlic ( or garlic powder), onions ( or onion powder), cheese, oil, sugar, salt, capers, olives, herbs, spices, such as basil, thyme, oregano, and black pepper.

Marinara sauce is another type of tomato sauce. It is commonly made with tomatoes, garlic (also garlic cloves or powder), onions, red pepper flakes or crushed red pepper, and herbs, such as fresh basil leaves and oregano, black pepper, and olive oil. 

Whether the tomatoes may be in the form of crushed tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, or tomato paste is a matter of preference.

The ingredients vary depending on the recipe and dish; thus, either sauce can have a more complex flavor.

Consistency & Usage

Pizza sauce has a thicker consistency than marinara sauce. Its thick consistency is great for the pizza dough as it doesn’t make the pizza crust soggy.

Marinara sauce is served as a dipping sauce, pasta sauce, spaghetti sauce, or topping. It may be served with mozzarella sticks, pasta dishes, homemade pizzas, meatballs, ground beef, and Italian sausage.

Despite having different ingredients and textures, they can still be substituted for each other.

Calories

Both sauces provide similar amounts of calories. They are categorized as low-calorie foods since they provide nearly 50 calories per 100g.

Carbs

Carbs are the predominant macronutrient in sauces, with pizza sauce being slightly higher in total carbs and dietary fiber.

Pizza sauce contains 8.7g of total carbs, of which 2g is dietary fiber. Comparably, marinara sauce contains 8g of total carbs, of which 1.8g is dietary fiber.

Protein

Pizza sauce is richer in protein; however, the protein content of pizza sauce and marinara is not very relevant, as it is 2.18g in pizza sauce and 1.41g in marinara sauce.

Fat

They have similar amounts of fats and are categorized as low, containing less than 2g of fats per 100g.

Minerals

Pizza sauce has a richer mineral profile than marinara sauce. Pizza sauce is richer in iron, copper, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and copper. Marinara sauce contains some amounts of selenium.

Below we can see the comparative diagram of their mineral profiles. As mentioned above, the marinara sauce used in this article is low-sodium.

Mineral Comparison

Mineral comparison score is based on the number of minerals by which one or the other food is richer. The "coverage" charts below show how much of the daily needs can be covered by 300 grams of the food.

Pizza sauce

7

Marinara sauce

2

Contains more MagnesiumMagnesium	+16.7%
Contains more CalciumCalcium	+100%
Contains more IronIron	+15.4%
Contains more CopperCopper	+69.1%
Contains more ZincZinc	+25%
Contains more PhosphorusPhosphorus	+47.1%
Contains more ManganeseManganese	+61.3%

Contains less SodiumSodium

-91.4%

~equal in Potassium ~319mg

Vitamins

Pizza and marinara sauces are good sources of vitamin A and vitamin B6. Pizza sauce is 5.5 times richer in vitamin C, while marinara sauce is 2.7 times richer in vitamin B3.

Pizza sauce is also richer in vitamin B1, while marinara sauce is a good source of fat-soluble vitamin K and vitamin E, the contents of which are unknown for pizza sauce.

We can see the comparative diagram of their vitamin profiles.

Vitamin Comparison

Vitamin comparison score is based on the number of vitamins by which one or the other food is richer. The "coverage" charts below show how much of the daily needs can be covered by 300 grams of the food.

Pizza sauce

4

Marinara sauce

7

Contains more Vitamin CVitamin C	+465%
Contains more Vitamin B1Vitamin B1	+154.2%
Contains more Vitamin B5Vitamin B5	+∞%
Contains more Vitamin B12Vitamin B12	+∞%

Contains more Vitamin B2Vitamin B2	+15.1%
Contains more Vitamin B3Vitamin B3	+175.7%
Contains more Vitamin B6Vitamin B6	+27.2%
Contains more FolateFolate	+30%

~equal in Vitamin A ~650IU

~equal in Vitamin D ~0µg

Vegan

Vegans can eat both marinara sauce and pizza sauce. In addition, vegan cheeses are available to make pizzas and pasta.

Several pizza sauces are not vegan; thus, the vegan option should be labeled as such on the packaging.

Keto

The sauces are allowed on the keto diet in low amounts. 

The main concern comes with the dough in the case of pizza or pasta. There are alternatives to wheat flour dough low in carbs for keto diets.

Weight Loss

Pizza sauce and marinara can be used during weight loss diets as they are low in calories and consumed in low amounts. It is important to mention that while undergoing a diet, the food that the person eats must make one happy or give a good feeling of satisfaction; otherwise, the diet won't work long.